Database migrations can be complicated when going cross-platform, cross-domain, or adding new systems at the end of the day you’ve got to get it right.
Database migration can be undertaken for moving data from one system to another for example from staging system to a production system. Or you could be changing the hardware, server location or moving to a cloud solution.
In any case you will need to consider several factors when undertaking such herculean task such as:
1. Data integrity
2. Downtime
3. Impact on business continuity
4. Impact on users
5. Efforts and dependencies involved
6. Costs
Here are top 5 tips to make database migration seamless:
1. Plan:
Database migration doesn’t happen often and requires careful planning. You need to determine what needs to be moved. You also need to consider other factors such as access control for users, which users will be involved, which users will be affected, how to maintain data integrity, potential compatibility issue and when to undertake the migration.
2. Understand data:
Keep a mindmap of database that you are migrating. Take a note of access permissions for databases, is there authorization or security access for admin users etc.
If possible remove andy stale data to make it lean and easier to migrate.
3. Extract data:
It is better if you can do a data clean up before migration. As once the data is migrated it will be that state till next migration. Making sure that you migrate right data will help you maintain data integrity.
4. Data migration policies:
Establish policies to make sure data is going to the right place and ensure that data is protected once it’s migrated. You can even automate these policies to make the destination environment more secure and robust. You can set up rules to re-permission the data during migration.
5. Testing:
Once migration is completed, test the system to make sure everything is working as expected. Double check the user permissions and critical data. Maintain a back up of your old system so that it is available offline if required.
Data migration can be a part of your MVP project or when moving from beta or staging environment to go live.
Data migration for SaaS
When building SaaS applications and cross platform applications you will need to migrate database as securely as possible. Our development and dev-ops teams have hands on expertise in undertaking such critical activity. They can take the guesswork out of building, scaling and migrating your SaaS and web applications.
If you want to automate or make database migration hassle free the you can reach out to us at sales@v2stech.com